Obviously the controller needs to be connected but you can connect the dualshock controllers in two ways:

Via Bluetooth: just make sure you pair with the controller via bluetooth.

Via USB: once the controller is connected to the computer make sure you press the playstation button located in the center of the controller. Important: THE CONTROLLER WILL NOT SEND ANY DATA IF YOU DO NOT PRESS THE PS BUTTON.

###Use the DualShock library

var dualShock =require('dualshock-controller');

//pass options to init the controller.

var controller = dualShock(

{

//you can use a ds4 by uncommenting this line.

//config: "dualshock4-generic-driver",

//if using ds4 comment this line.

config :"dualShock3",

//smooths the output from the acelerometers (moving averages) defaults to true

accelerometerSmoothing :true,

//smooths the output from the analog sticks (moving averages) defaults to false

// value : values will be from 0 to 120 for directions right, forward and up and from 0 to -120 for left, backwards and down.

//}

//right-left movement

controller.on('rightLeft:motion',function(data){

//...doStuff();

});

//forward-back movement

controller.on('forwardBackward:motion',function(data){

//...doStuff();

});

//up-down movement

controller.on('upDown:motion',function(data){

//...doStuff();

});

//controller status

//as of version 0.6.2 you can get the battery %, if the controller is connected and if the controller is charging

controller.on('battery:change',function(value){

//...doStuff();

});

controller.on('connection:change',function(value){

//...doStuff();

});

controller.on('charging:change',function(value){

//...doStuff();

});

//connect the controller

controller.connect();

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2014 Ricardo de Pena

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of
this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in
the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to
use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of
the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so,
subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
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THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
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CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.